Electric service education

[MarkAndDebbie]

I had a very pleasant meeting today with a guy from my EMC. Here's what I learned.

They will run 1000 feet of electric service overhead for free. It will follow the driveway. I will be responsible for cutting a 30ft swath of trees down to put in the poles.

They will run 1000 feet of electric service underground for $2.50 a foot. It will follow the driveway. I will need to provide ~15 feet cleared (enough for them to drive down the road and lay the cable in the ditch next to them and somewhere to put the dirt until they cover it back over). The $2.50 includes the trench, cable, transformer etc. I cannot coordinate they phone guy and power guy to get them to lay the cable in the same trench at the same time. The power will be 4 feet deep (I won't hit that with a shovel;)). The phone guy can come back after they cover the trench and re-trench to put the phone a foot or more above the power. Additional feet beyond the first 1000 are $8 a foot. Rock clause... if rock impedes their progress, they will charge me $5 a foot. Not just $5 a linear foot, but $5 per foot of depth per linear foot (possibly $22.50 a foot for the first 1000 feet and $28 thereafter). However, they'll get my approval first if they run into rock. They use a mini-excavator I think?

He asked what I would be building up there. "A shed and a cabin" I replied. "Then you could meter them separately and get to 1350 feet" he offered. It seems that for non-residential buildings you can get 350 feet underground for $3.50 a foot. The counter then starts at zero from that point for the next structure. However, it would be commercial rates - so the base rate would be $16 a month instead of $11 a month for the house. If I then canceled the service for the shed the next month, someone would be upset. It would be fine to cancel the service after a couple of years (according to him).

My thoughts...
The guy was really helpful. I am about 1075 feet from the pole (I have no idea the error on the measuring wheel I was using). I'd like the shed closer than 1000 feet to the house. I can't build the shed first 1000 feet from the pole - he said they'd charge me for the line like it was the first structure - 350 feet at $3.50 and 700 feet at $8. I wonder how hard it will be to build the shed up there without power? I am building the shed first mostly to practice.

More later...

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds like a good deal on the power if you don't hit rock.

Building without power is something I do on my jobs nearly every day.  Just use a generator.  I do it by choice many times just to keep from running power cords all over the jobsite.

[MarkAndDebbie]

How much generator would I need. I'll use (basically one at a time)
miter saw
4.2 gallon Makita 2400 compressor (palm nailer)
circular saw
reciprocating saw

I also considered building 8 foot panels at home in my garage and hauling them to the jobsite. It is an hour away. The shed will be a simple 16x16 starting from the Victoria base.

[builderboy]

That sounds cheap. I'm only getting 300 ft free in the air. The next 200 ft is at $8/ft. Burying is brutal. The power corp won't do it. I'd have to hire a contractor to dig, lay the lines & get the power corp to inspect before burying. I've been told between $20 & 25/ft with none free ie 500 ft x $20 = $10,000 minimum - yikes. I've opted to run 400 ft in the air along the edge of my property and then bury 100 ft across the field to my cabin. Meter will be on the last pole rather than on the cabin.

[glenn kangiser]

Assuming your miter saw and compressor are your biggest loads, I would think that the smallest generator you would want would be at least 3000 watts.  If you have the opportunity try to test your compressor on a generator when starting under load - fill it then bleed it down until it restarts.  The Makita specs are great - Cast Iron cyl. and low starting current draw.  Under load the compressors pull the most current.